


Do Unto Others

by CatKing_Catkin



Series: Safe, Sane, Consensual [2]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Aftercare, Caleb Widogast Deserves Nice Things, Caleb Widogast Needs a Hug, Collars, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dom Caleb Widogast, Leashes, Light Dom/sub, Literal Sleeping Together, M/M, Only in the abstract though, Oral Sex, Past Rape/Non-con, Past Sexual Abuse, Past Sexual Assault, Post-Coital Cuddling, Power Imbalance, Power Play, Praise Kink, Rape Recovery, Self-Loathing Caleb Widogast, Sequel, Sexual Inexperience, Sub Mollymauk Tealeaf, Teacher/Student Roleplay, Tender Sex, Trans Mollymauk Tealeaf, Vaginal Fingering
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2020-06-30 03:39:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19844809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CatKing_Catkin/pseuds/CatKing_Catkin
Summary: After a false start that was very nearly also the end, Caleb and Molly are starting to figure out the shape of their new relationship, both in bed and out. But one night, the gulf of sexual inexperience that lies between them gets to Molly just a little, and he asks for Caleb to teach him more.Caleb is happy to oblige. Even if he doesn't always understand why Molly enjoys what he does, the fact that he enjoys it is what matters. The fact that Caleb can give them both what they want in a way that's safe and loving means the world.He's only known sex as something painful before but now, together with Molly, maybe they can both make something better.(Written as a followup to "Ask Me No Questions, I'll Tell You No Lies", but can be read independently.)





	Do Unto Others

“Are you quite certain about this?”

“Would I have spent the gold if I wasn’t?”

Caleb raised an eyebrow, and Molly only lasted a minute before chuckling. “All right, fine. You know me. _But_ , there’s no way to know if I am certain about it without trying it, is there? I’m quite certain I like the _idea_ of it, at least. Maybe that’s enough to go on.”

Despite the anxiety already churning in the pit of Caleb’s stomach, he knew Molly was right – there was no way to know if this was something he’d like without trying it. It wasn’t as if it would cause any real harm. It would be easy enough to stop the game if he found it wasn’t to his tastes.

And yet, the weight of the leather collar in his hands didn’t feel any less significant.

Molly must have seen the furrow between his brows. His anticipatory smile faltered a little, his tail stopped swaying quite so boldly. Instead, he leaned over and squeezed Caleb’s knee. “Honestly, if this is, I don’t know, too much for you, or too fast, that’s fine, honestly that’s fine, I—”

Whatever reassurances he was about to offer died in his throat as Caleb undid the buckle on the collar. The sound seemed impossibly loud in the otherwise breathless stillness between them, in the vibrating tension of sudden anticipation.

Caleb’s fingers were shaking a little as he reached out to brush some of Molly’s hair off his neck. It was starting to get long, the violet curls fading to loose waves under the weight. Any day now he’d probably ask Yasha to cut it but for now, Caleb fussily saw to it that nothing would get caught in the collar when he affixed it in place. He drew the moment out a little long for such a simple act, but maybe that was all right. This felt weighty and important, another step along the path of _whatever it was_ that they were still figuring out day by day, another rule to this game that they played with each other. He would give that the honor it deserved.

Molly’s eyes fell half-closed and he let out the softest of sighs when Caleb slid the collar around his neck, giving him a moment to simply feel the smooth, supple leather against his skin. It really was a handsome piece of work, almost an item of jewelry in its own right – rich red leather the color of wine, dotted with brass studs that gleamed like old gold in the dim light of their room at the inn. Caleb deftly closed the collar so that the buckle rested at the hollow of Molly’s throat. He kept it loose, of course he did, and knew that Molly wouldn’t _really_ have asked him to clasp it any tighter.

He gave himself a moment just to admire the effect, the way Molly raised a hand to trace the leather and studs with his fingers. Then he reached down, picked up the leash where it lay waiting on the bed between them, and affixed it to the small silver ring dangling for just that purpose. This time, the _click_ of connection made his breath catch, too.

Molly’s eyes remained half-closed, but a slow, lazy smile spread across his face as he regarded Caleb. That look alone made Caleb’s heart start to race. “There, now,” he murmured. He reached down to toy with the end of the leash, twining the leather around his fingers. “How do I look?”

“You—” Caleb tried. His throat had gone so dry. He swallowed hard, then tried again: “I—”

Words failed him utterly. Words were completely insufficient to express what he wanted to say, there and then. So Caleb shifted into the state that only Molly seemed to be able to bring out in him, and only then when they played this game.

He grabbed the leash and gave it enough of a tug to pull Molly to him for a hard, fierce kiss. Molly went easily, willingly, his low, throaty chuckle quickly turning into a heartfelt moan as Caleb thrust his tongue past Molly’s lips to claim his mouth. The kiss Molly offered him in turn was soft and submissive and encouraging, _coaxing_. Even now, he was already offering himself up so freely, and the full weight of that fact made something wind hot and tight in the pit of Caleb’s stomach.

What he would have said, if he’d had the words, was that he was a man who craved power and the safety it provided. He’d lost too much, had been hurt too much, to ever truly be any other way. And yet, because he knew himself, he knew that he was a man who could never really be trusted with true power. He would inevitably abuse it, overstep it, and hurt the people around him in doing so.

And yet, Molly trusted him anyway. What he offered now, it wasn’t power of the sort Caleb sought, but it was power all the same. It was dressed up in the veneer of a game but it was still power over _him,_ over his body and mind and wellbeing in this room and out. Because Molly was so _inexperienced_ in the ways of sex – not just the acts it could involve, but the _abuse_ and _manipulation_ it could encompass. Molly was, against all odds, despite all evidence to the contrary, still so very innocent in so many ways. Caleb knew that he could have so easily destroyed that. Molly thought himself alert enough to notice, but Caleb felt a cold certainty in his heart that he could have ruined Molly in ways that the tiefling would have never been able to truly process or understand.

After all, the very same had been done to him.

He very nearly had done the same to Molly – the first time they’d tried to be intimate with each other, the _second_ time Molly had ever been intimate with _anyone_ , he’d stumbled over a line Caleb hadn’t even realized was there. Caleb had fallen so hard and fast back into his past that he’d become blind to the present, blind to the man sharing his bed, and he’d nearly choked the life out of Molly without realizing it before Molly had managed to claw his way free.

Molly never should have trusted him again, after that. The very fact that he hadn’t rallied the rest of the Nein to kick Caleb out to fend for himself had been baffling enough. The fact that he’d talked so calmly and frankly to Caleb about how they could safely try this again had been nothing short of stupefying.

The fact that he’d admitted to enjoying it when Caleb told him what to do and took control in bed had been…a lot to think about.

But he was starting to learn the shape of the feelings that revelation had awoken within him.

All of these thoughts and more flashed through Caleb’s mind but did not pass his lips, not when they were so busy kissing Molly’s mouth swollen and bruised. At some point, they wound up sprawled in bed, Molly on his back and Caleb atop him. He kept one hand braced on the tiefling’s shoulders, pressing him back against the mattress, and kept a firm grip on the leash with the other. He used it to guide and hold his lover’s head just where he wanted it, at just the perfect angle to kiss him as deeply as possible – his grip was nothing hard, nothing forcible, just a guide, and one that Molly eagerly obeyed.

When they parted for breath, Caleb let his mouth wander lower, over Molly’s throat and along one shoulder, kissing slow and lazy marks into the lavender flesh. The sound of Molly’s breathless, needy panting made his trousers start to feel entirely too confining.

“You said,” he murmured, in the breaths between kisses. “That there were things you wanted to practice. Things you wanted me to help you learn.”

Molly drew in a sharp, shuddering breath that left him as a long sigh – Caleb felt it as well as heard it, in the rise and fall of his chest. When he tried to speak, it came out as strangled nonsense for a moment before he seemed to recover his wits enough to stammer. “Y-Yeah. Um, yes. Please.”

 _Please_. It was a word that sounded so very pretty in Molly’s voice, in his accent. Caleb loved the way he seemed almost to caress it with his tongue, loved knowing that he _meant_ it and, most of all, he loved knowing that here in this bed it was a word freely given.

He knew that some who played these sorts of power games had other words they used to signal a need to stop for whatever reason, in case they were setting themselves up for situations where “no” might not truly mean “no”. He knew that he and Molly weren’t nearly to that point, however, if they ever would be. If either of them asked to stop, then they would stop. That hadn’t been true the first time, but it would be true now and for every time after. Molly knew as much, too. He’d called a halt a few times in the past – maybe out of a true need, maybe simple to see if Caleb would listen, maybe both. It didn’t matter. Caleb always listened, and would truly rather have died than had it be any other way. More than that, he dearly loved knowing that Molly would say “no” when he needed to.

It certainly made the pleas for more even sweeter.

He didn’t remotely understand what Molly could possibly be getting out of these nights together, didn’t understand how Molly could enjoy the things he did. But the fact that he did was becoming increasingly undeniable, even to Caleb. Practice made perfect in so many ways, it seemed.

“I was thinking—” Molly began, and then seemed to entirely lose his train of thought as Caleb nipped at one pointed ear. A gentle tug on the leash got him talking again. “I want the chance to try, ah, to try using my mouth.”

Caleb found himself smiling, a spark of genuine mischief igniting in his heart. “In what way? You’re quite a fine kisser already.” Though Molly had claimed a need to “practice” that too, at first, and Caleb had been more than happy to offer his aid.

Molly muttered something in Infernal that certainly carried the connotations of “fuck you”, before switching back to Common and saying: “I want to suck your dick, and I want you to show me how to make it good for you.”

 _Oh_. He’d been braced for the words, or something like them, but the weight of them still went right between his legs. Caleb muffled a groan against the curve of Molly’s shoulder, and grinded his hips down against the tiefling’s thigh for a moment so Molly could feel how good those words felt for Caleb in turn. He was gratified at the way Molly’s breath caught, at the way he angled his thigh up against Caleb’s straining dick in turn.

“That’s part of why I brought the leash,” his lover added in a dreamy, breathless murmur. “Thought it could make it, I don’t know, easier. Of course you could hold my horn, and I enjoy that _very_ much, but y’know. Change of pace. Never hurt anyone.”

“No. I suppose not.” Or at least, it didn’t here.

Caleb got carefully off of Molly, relishing the protesting sound this tore from Molly’s lips perhaps more than he should have. But he didn’t let himself be tempted into staying – in fact, he took the leash in hand again and gave it a tug to urge Molly to sit up as well.

“I want you to get undressed,” he said, his eyes fixed on Molly’s, watching the way the dim shades of his pupils seemed to blow even wider. “And then I want you to get on your knees.”

He saw Molly’s tongue – his _forked_ tongue – dart out to lick his lips, and Caleb’s throat went, if possible, even dryer. “Yes, sir,” Molly murmured, and then got up from the bed to do as he’d been ordered. Caleb rose, intending to do the same, though there was a moment when he got distracted – Molly kept his back to Caleb as he disrobed, but all that meant was that Caleb was able to admire the lean muscles of his back beneath his tattooed flesh. It made for a very arresting sight.

Then he caught Molly looking over his shoulder to admire Caleb’s staring, and Caleb hastily ducked his head and finished getting undressed himself. By the time he’d bared himself, Molly had done the same and Caleb felt as if he’d recaptured a little of that careful control that they both craved so much by now.

So he sat back down on the bed, leaned back on one hand and let his legs fall open. He watched as Molly’s eyes went right to his flushed erection. Caleb had to clear his throat, in fact, to tacitly remind Molly of the other part of his instruction.

He hoped it never stopped doing something to his chest and the pit of his stomach, the sight of Molly sinking so gracefully to his knees and then crawling closer to take his designated place between Caleb’s legs. A little breathless and desperate not to show it, Caleb reached out to run his fingers through Molly’s hair, and the Molly pressed up shamelessly into the touch.

“Such a good pet already,” he murmured, and his lover smiled. Then he took his hand away and Molly sat up straighter, the better to regard Caleb with an intent, hungry gaze.

“Start slowly,” he said. “You don’t have to take me into your mouth right away. Just use your tongue, use your lips. Learn the shape of me. Get comfortable.” He let Molly start to lean forward before he used the leash to hold him back, just for a moment longer. “And no teeth.”

Molly raised an eyebrow. “What sort of a pet do you take me for?”

Caleb smiled, despite himself. “One that it pays to be clear with.” But then he slackened his grip, and let Molly get to work. This Molly did – slow, careful, thoughtful, but always, entirely unhesitating. He actually nuzzled his cheek against Caleb’s cock, pressed a kiss to the tip of it that was almost chaste. Then he let his tongue dart out between his lips and—

“ _Scheisse_ ,” Caleb breathed, tightening one fist in the bedsheets and the other around the leash. “That is-- oh, that is new.”

“Good new?” Molly asked, in between dotting slow, soft kisses along Caleb’s dick.

It took a second for the shock to fade enough for Caleb to consider. But then he did, and he nodded. “Good new,” he said. And then: “Do it again. Longer.”

“Yes, sir.” And Molly did so, licking a long, forked stripe from the tip almost all the way to the sac. Caleb bit back a whimper, because it did feel good, it felt _so_ good, the sensations all the sharper for being so new. Then Molly got the idea to blow gently on the cooling trail of slick, and Caleb had to fight not to visibly squirm. He refused to come undone so early.

“Your, ah, your friends, at the Pillow Trove,” he murmured breathlessly instead, fighting the urge to bite down on his fingers, knowing Molly would still want to hear the sounds he was earning. “They did not do this for you?” Caleb had done this for Molly, a few times already, though he knew he couldn't have been a patch on the trained courtesans of that rich and luxurious place. Still, he adored having his head buried between Molly's thighs, lapping at his clit, feeling and hearing and _tasting_ the tiefling coming undone. He'd certainly never had any complaints. Maybe it was no surprise that Molly had grown curious enough to reverse their positions tonight. 

“Oh, they did,” Molly said, sounding so very pleased with himself already. “But they were _terribly_ good at their jobs, you see. So I was barely in a position to remember my own name, let alone take notes on technique.” He bent his head to press first a kiss and then his tongue to the thick vein running along the underside of Caleb’s cock – it made Caleb’s hips stutter upward, tore a truly indecent sound from his throat.

“Yes, good, yes – again, do that again—” Molly did so, and Caleb groaned as his cock twitched. “You are proving a very quick study so far.”

“I don’t presume I’ll be anywhere near to their level for a long while yet. But it’s kind of you to say so.”

Molly pulled away just a little, then, and of course Caleb let him do so. Molly paused for just a moment, regarding his handiwork, regarding how hard and straining and _close_ Caleb was. He leaned forward again to press a gentle kiss to the tip of his lover’s cock, to give a coy, kittenish lick to the slit.

Then he parted his lips and lowered his head to take Caleb into his mouth at last. The sensation sent sparks shooting up Caleb's spine, stoked the fire in his gut, made his head loll back and made him moan desperately, loud enough that anyone on the other side of the cheap inn walls probably knew exactly what was happening. Caleb was well past caring. All he knew was that he could have died happily in this moment and he never, never wanted Molly to stop. Half blind with lust as he was, it was easy now to use the leash to pull Molly’s head down a little further – slowly, and not far, but enough for them both to feel the intention behind it. His heart skipped a beat as Molly’s eyes fell closed, as his shoulders slumped in relaxation and ease. It was not often that he fell into a state of true submission, but when he did, it was a glorious sight to behold.

“I am going to move my hips,” he whispered, in a low, rough voice that scarcely sounded like his own – but in a way that thrilled rather than frightened him. “I will go slowly. I will go easily. But I am going to fuck your mouth.”

He waited for just a moment in case there came a sign to stop. When Molly couldn’t speak, they’d agreed that he was free to use his claws to get Caleb’s attention and make him stop. But instead, Molly merely half-opened his eyes and stared directly up at Caleb, somehow demure and bold in the same instant. It was mesmerizing, almost enough to make Caleb forget his own need - but his body would not be denied.

So he let out a long, shuddering breath. “Good boy,” he breathed, and then started to pump his hips slowly and steadily into Molly’s mouth, using the leash to tug him down to meet each thrust.

It was bliss of the sort he had never known and knew he did not deserve. Yet it was here, and he had it anyway. Molly’s mouth was rose-petal soft, his breath hot, his tongue clumsy from this new position but still eager to stimulate and please. The sight of him was almost sweeter than all that physical pleasure combined. Caleb’s memory was as close to perfect as a human’s could be, but even then he found himself scrambling to take in details, desperate to make absolutely, entirely certain to commit every bit of this scene to memory forever – Mollymauk Tealeaf, all the glory and passion and color of him, kneeling willingly trapped between Caleb’s legs, letting Caleb use his mouth for pleasure. Such a brilliantly vibrant man, happily reducing himself to a pet for Caleb to enjoy. He could feel as well as hear the moans vibrating faintly in Molly’s throat and it only made him harder. There was something deliciously _obscene_ about the sound of Molly’s voice when it was muffled.

Lavishing praise on Molly seemed like such a pittance to offer in turn, but he knew how much Molly loved to be praised while they were in bed together, so Caleb used all the breath he could force into his lungs to do so. “Molly, my Mollymauk, so beautiful, _so_ pretty.” He used his free hand to stroke Molly’s hair, to caress his cheek. “What did I ever do to deserve your clever mouth? You say you have never done this but I have never had anyone better. I love you, _ich liebe dich_ …”

He was so lost that he almost missed the feeling of Molly straining against the leash. The realization sent a thrill of panic through him, but it was as he slackened his grip that he realized Molly’s true intentions. He was trying to go faster. Trying to pick up the pace.

Grinning fiercely, Caleb held him back, and saw Molly’s tail lash in agitation, heard him groan in frustration. _“Nein,”_ he breathed. “The pace is mine to set, _ja_? And I have decided we are going to go slowly. I have decided I want to take my time and savor this – knowing that I am the first person to have you on your knees like this. I want to give you every chance to remember this, too. My knees against your shoulders. My cock on your tongue. My leash guiding you forward like the good pet you are…”

Once again, he waited for a long, breathless moment to see if he was going too far, to see if Molly would refuse.

All he felt was the leash going fully slack as Molly stopped fighting his grip.

“Good boy,” he whispered, reaching down to stroke Molly’s hair and then thrusting his hips carefully once more. “That’s it. Wonderful, dearest Molly. I am _so_ close now, so very close, just a little while longer with that marvelous tongue of yours’…”

He once again stopped putting any pressure on the leash when he was sure he was right on the edge, giving Molly a chance to pull back if he wanted to. The first time trying to swallow could be overwhelming to the point of disgusting, in his unfortunately expansive experience, but he also knew how much Molly hated to be besmeared.

Whatever choice Molly made, Caleb didn’t know it in that moment – all he knew was the feeling of the tiefling laving the flat of his tongue against the head of Caleb’s cock and then the sharp twist of pleasure in the pit of his stomach _snapped_ , lighting up every nerve in a torrent of sensation as he came, shuddering and gasping out Molly’s name.

When he slowly returned to his senses, Caleb found himself sprawled on the bed, flat on his back with his legs still dangling over the sides. His heart was still racing rabbit-quick in his chest, his breath coming in short, stuttering pants, and every muscle felt warm and relaxed in the blissful, golden afterglow.

He felt _amazing_.

“Molly,” Caleb whispered, and then tried to push himself up from the bed. It was hard to get coordinated for a moment. Every limb felt as shaky as a newborn colt’s. “Molly, oh _Liebchen_ , that was _wonderful_.”

Molly was still sitting at the foot of the bed, his posture having changed to something more casual, more relaxed. “Not bad for a first time out, then?”

Caleb nodded his head emphatically. As the roaring in his ears subsided and his wits slowly returned, the next immediate need of the moment sank in for him fully. _Ah_. He could see Molly _fighting_ not to try and wipe at the smears of come that Caleb had inadvertently left against his neck and chest.

“Here,” Caleb whispered, getting up from the bed and stumbling over to the basin of water in the corner. “Here, here. Let me. Let me take care of you now.” He picked up the basin in one hand and a rag in the other, heated the water with the barest spark of energy, and went to kneel beside Molly. He wetted the rag and set to work carefully, tenderly, wiping his lover clean with warm water and sure attention.

Molly let out a long, relieved sigh, the last of the tension bleeding from him, his eyes falling closed. “I suppose I will have to get better at swallowing, though.”

“You don’t have to.”

“Mm. I know. And even if being _sticky_ isn’t my favorite feeling in the world, this bit? This is very nice.” He half-opened one eye to regard Caleb, his smile growing more pronounced for just a moment. “But I _did_ dabble in sword eating for the circus, for a while. So I might do better than you think, after a little practice.”

The mental image and the implication of those words very nearly made Caleb’s brain overheat again, and certainly made it stutter traitorously. “--ah. Well.” And really, what else was there to say about that?

After all, there were certainly more important things to consider, in this moment. He could see the weary slump in Molly’s shoulders, the uncharacteristic stillness in his tail, the way his eyes refused to stay open for very long. This was not an unfamiliar reaction. It had worried Caleb at first, before he’d learned that Molly simply felt so intensely and _so much_ that sex could be emotionally exhausting for him sometimes. It was the kind of exhaustion he seemed to enjoy, a similar breed to what he felt from a hard round of training with his scimitars, but that didn’t make the fact of it any less real.

Caleb understood. He understood so well, to a degree that only Molly really knew. After every time when he’d been forced to trade his body for food or information or _safety_ , it had left him so bowed with weariness in the aftermath that the thought of laying down and never getting up again could seem so sweet. It left him feeling hollowed-out, used, worthless. And the ones who had used him never cared.

But Caleb did. He cared for Molly so much and so fiercely that it sometimes felt as if his heart couldn’t hold it all. He would never treat Molly as a thing, would never make him think that sex and service were all he was good for, would never leave him feeling _demeaned_. And he would always be there to help Molly through the shudders and shakes of emotional exhaustion that could apparently even follow sex between two people who loved one another. 

“ _Komm her_ ,” he whispered, reaching out to enfold Molly in his arms and pull him close. _“Shh, liebling, ruh dich aus.”_ Caleb leaned back against the bed and guided Molly’s head to rest against his chest. Molly mumbled something incoherent but happy-sounding. He wound his arms around Caleb’s waist, pressed his forehead just above Caleb’s heart, and otherwise went boneless against him.

There they stayed for a peaceful few moments. Molly knew that he didn’t have to do anything but relax and let himself be petted and doted upon. This Caleb did happily, running his fingers through Molly’s hair and down along his scarred neck, tracing idle patterns along his arms and back. He pressed soft, gentle kisses to the top of Molly’s head, his temple, what Caleb could see of his cheeks beneath the sweat-damp waves of violet hair. Molly genuinely, obviously adored being touched, loved physical contact for its own sake as much as anything. Caleb didn’t understand it, but the reality was undeniable. Soon, Molly was practically purring, the sound vibrating against Caleb’s chest and making him laugh in between whispered endearments and praise.

But he also knew that Molly had gone untouched and untended to. Molly hadn't come yet, and that seemed especially unfair after he'd left Caleb feeling so blissfully amazing. That was a matter that needed addressing even if Molly seemed to have briefly forgotten as much. He let his hand stray lower, fingers splayed over Molly’s stomach. “Do you want me to help you finish, _schatz?_ ”

“Mm.” The hum was a little more alert than any of the other little sounds Molly had been making over the past little while. His tail gave a twitch, and he half-lifted his head to regard Caleb with an adoring smile. “ _Please.”_

“Of course. You deserve it.” He deserved all of this and more, but sometimes Caleb only had so many words.

So instead, he guided Molly to turn and lean back fully against him, with Caleb’s chest against his back, with his legs spread and hooked around Caleb’s ankles, with his head resting against Caleb’s shoulder as much as his horns would allow. The important thing was to stil be as close as possible, after all, to share their warmth and the sparks of skin on skin.

Then Caleb slid a hand between Molly's legs and stroked two fingers slowly along the slit of his pussy, swallowing hard at all the dampness he found there already. He repeated the motion once, twice more, before he pressed both fingers against Molly's clit and started to turn in small, slow circles. The tiefling shuddered bodily, even more beautifully responsive than usual after so long ignoring his own needs. A breathy, punched-out sound left his lips that made Caleb’s heart skip a beat.

“I love you,” he murmured against Molly’s skin. “I love your color, your smile, your voice. When you are loud, and when you are quiet. I love the freedom you make for yourself, the man you have made of yourself. You are the _brightest_ person I have ever known, inside and out, and sometimes I love you so much I can hardly breathe, Molly, my Mollymauk…”

Molly squirmed in his arms, and Caleb knew it was as much because of the words as the touch. And it was only here, like this, tangled together and replete with his own satisfaction as Molly chased his own, that Caleb could offer such words so freely.

He still didn’t entirely understand what Molly got out of these nights, these games, though Molly had freely admitted that he didn’t entirely understand, either. The difference between them was that Molly didn’t care about the reasons – _as long as it feels good and we both want it, what does it matter?_

But Caleb was a man prone to brutal introspection, and he understood now that what he craved about these evenings with Molly was the rush of power and control coupled with the knowledge that he was using that power in a good, positive way. He could turn his own painful past experiences into a shield for Molly, use them as a way to guide him into showing Molly how to be safe. He could help Molly learn the shape of his own desires without seeking to bend or corrupt those desire to painful ends. He could help him find pleasure in all the shapes they could figure out together and spare him from ever, ever knowing the pain that Caleb had once thought could be all there was.

He had the power to protect Molly, to keep him innocent and safe in even one small way, to do _something_ to ensure that this bright, brilliant being who was still so new in so many ways could make a happy life for himself. Even when – and even now, he still couldn’t think it was anything but _when_ – this arrangement ended, he would have that knowledge to keep him warm. If his life came to nothing else before its inevitable end, this was still far from nothing. It was a power that left a taste of sweetness in his mouth, rather than ashes.

Molly came, shuddering and keening, his hips rocking up into Caleb's palm, his walls clenching down on the fingers Caleb had slipped inside. Then he slumped back limply against Caleb once more, chest heaving. He’d been right on the edge already, but Caleb had drawn out and delayed his orgasm as much as possible. The end result was that Molly looked beautifully wrecked, his bangs plastered flat against his forehead, the chains in his horns jingling faintly as he panted and gasped.

But then he saw Molly smile, heard him chuckle throatily and whisper _“wow”_ in wonder, and it was that, more than anything, which seized his chest with such a rush of fondness that for a moment Caleb could scarcely breathe.

He made himself move just enough to tilt Molly’s head towards him and kiss him gently – soft and sweet, no teeth, only tongues. “Was that good?” he asked, when they parted for breath and simply rested their brows together. “Everything you wanted?”

“Mm, very much so.” Molly laughed lightly and reached up to stroke the backs of his fingers down Caleb’s cheek. “You are a marvel, _mo chroi_. As always. And you? Did you enjoy yourself?”

 _Every night with you is a joy_ , Caleb wanted to say – but, as the afterglow settled to banked and burning embers in his chest, he found that he could not quite muster the words.

“Of course,” was all he said instead. And then: “Wait here just a moment. I will clean my hands, then we will both get into bed and you can sleep.”

“Sounds lovely.”

Caleb fetched another rag, reheated the water, and wiped his fingers clean. Then he fetched his own waterskin and let Molly drink his fill. Then they helped each other, shaky as they were, to collapse into bed together.

The leash clinked slightly where it was connected to the collar as they both flopped down, and only then did Caleb remember that he’d forgotten to remove it. Judging by the way Molly startled just slightly as Caleb reached a shaking hand towards his throat, he’d forgotten it was there.

“And this?” Caleb asked, as he managed to get the buckle undone and set the collar on the bedside table. “Did you enjoy this?”

Molly let out a huge, jaw cracking yawn before he spoke. “I think I did.” He sounded faintly surprised in turn. “It was nice. It made me feel…safe? Does that make sense?”

It didn’t, but Caleb nodded anyway. Molly seemed to be trying to martial his thoughts, and Caleb wasn’t about to interfere with that. His consideration was rewarded when the thoughtful expression faded from Molly’s face, to be replaced with a warm, loving smile just for Caleb that felt like standing out in the sun on a new summer’s day.

“It made me feel like you’d, I don’t know. Take care of me. Figure everything out. Make sure everything was fine.” He lifted his head enough to kiss Caleb’s forehead. “That’s something I always know, of course. Obviously. But that—” He gestured aimlessly at the open collar. “—that helped me _feel_ it, right down to my bones. It was nice.”

The smile and the words together both made Caleb’s throat go traitorously tight. He wasn’t sure he remotely trusted himself to speak.

He made himself speak anyway. “I will always take care of you, Mollymauk,” he whispered.

“I know,” Molly answered, with a breathtaking lack of hesitation. He was cut off by another yawn before he spoke again. “Least I can do is do the same.”

He said it so casually, he said it so easily. And if Caleb lived to be old and grey, he would never be able to convey how much that meant to him.

All he could say again was: “I love you.”

“Love you, too,” Molly murmured, as he pressed close against Caleb and settled in to sleep. Caleb rested his chin on the top of Molly’s head, right between his horns. He wrapped his arms around the tiefling to hold him close and warm and, above all, _safe_.

They were both asleep within moments, and the warmth of one another assured that their dreams were sweet.


End file.
